Russia to Beef Up Arctic Military Infrastructure

By George Backwell

Thursday, May 22, 2014

'Pyotr Veliky': Photo Russian Navy

The Russian Northern Fleet will deploy military infrastructure in most of the archipelagos and islands of the Arctic Ocean on the borders of Russia, according to official news agency Arctic-Info, citing the Northern Fleet command spokesman Andrey Korablev.

"We plan to create a military infrastructure on virtually all of the archipelagos and islands of the Arctic Ocean in order to create a unified system of monitoring above-water and underwater environments," said Korablev at the "Provision of national interests of Russia in the Arctic" round table in St. Petersburg.

In addition, it is planned to continue work this year on the development of new or neglected areas in the Arctic. In particular, ship voyages to Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novosibirsk Islands and Wrangel island are planned.

According to Korablev, the Northern Fleet actions are not only military, but also serve to ensure maritime economic activities in Russia in the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route as a national transport route.

In September last year, a detachment of ships of the Northern Fleet led heavy nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, completed a remote voyage in the Arctic.
Source: Arctica-Info